Seven Serpents
by sonycdrw
Summary: James Potter has been Lily's constant bully for the past four years. But when James discovers a card that triggers the 7 Deadly Sins in the worst ways possible, along with unexpected hormones, things begin taking a different turn. Chapter 5 up! ^_^
1. Beginnings of Opposite Ends

**Disclaimer:** I don't have my name on Harry Potter or any part of the wizarding world. ^_^ I'm just a mere muggle trying to create an alternative world for this brainchild, which is owned by none other than Joanne Kathleen Rowling. :^) And I don't own _Meteor Garden_, either, from which some of the characters' personalities are based. 

**Author's notes: **This fanfic was inspired by the television series _Meteor Garden_, and the animated film _Spirited Away_. ^_^

**Seven Serpents**

_Chapter One: Beginnings of Opposite Ends _

---

It was already half-past ten in the evening when fifteen-year old James strode his way towards the edge of one of their enormous family pools, pausing for a moment to admire his handsome reflection in the water. It was hard to hide the fact that he liked almost everything about his appearance— the well-proportioned nose, the charming dent that formed at the corner of his lips every time he smiled; and that messy, tousled jet-black hair that topped his clear, well-featured face, buttoned nicely with a pair of grayish-blue eyes. 

James continued to stare at the pool lazily as he slipped his fingers around the wide strings that enclosed him in the dark, velvet blue robe he had on. The robe fell off to reveal him in an expensive pair of black swimming trunks, which were the ones he always used for his evening dips. His eyes scrolled over the water in the same pride he had always had for it, knowing that he was in for another soothing dip of extreme comfort. 

And why wouldn't he be? 

This uniquely-designed pool had countless knobs of different colors, with some for bubble-making, some for changing the temperature, some for drinking, and some for mere smelling, and James would always get out feeling like he had the best bath of his life, indeed. It was easily his favorite geometrical volume of water, even if such a category remained non-existent in those end-of-the-year slumbooks. 

With a private grin of eagerness, James sat down comfortably on one of the pool's steps, and rested a head on one of the pool edges. He closed his eyes as he thought of the additional advantages he would be getting as a prefect after that train ride going to Hogwarts the following morning. It was fortunate that he managed to keep his grades up, though tiring as it was. And he was lucky to have had inherited the good brains of the family; otherwise, his tendency to fool around with his friends and socialize with other rich girls would have gotten the better of him. 

"Wick!" 

All at once, a chubby little house-elf came tottering toward the boy. He had enormous, bright blue eyes, which glimmered with eagerness every time James called. 

"What is you wanting, Master James?" Micklewick the house-elf squeaked in a tiny voice. 

"Twist knobs 14, 23, and 32 open for me," he ordered lazily, pointing to the numbered knobs that surrounded the pool. "And get me a glass of that 17… and some chocolate frogs." 

Micklewick nodded his head gleefully and began scuttling over to each of the knobs. In a mere set of moments, puffs of yellow and purple smoke surrounded the area, and the air smelled of a very relaxing mix of oats and milk. The increasing warmth of the water spread slowly to James' skin as Micklewick came back with a tray hovering over his elfish hands. 

"Number 17 and ten packs of Chocolate Frogs, Master James," he chirped cheerfully, handing over the tray of snacks James had asked for. 

James nodded. "That'll be all, Wick. You may leave." 

House-elves would normally scuttle away at this point, or otherwise bang their heads for disobedience, but Micklewick didn't even bother to leave. He loved his master so much and enjoyed being with him, in spite of James' occasional arrogance and extremely vulnerable temper, as Micklewick knew it didn't really bother his master whenever he sat by him during his evening dips. Besides, house-elves hardly ever got to enjoy wizarding pools, and it was fortunate for the enthusiastic little house-elf that he was one of those that James really trusted, having grown up with him during his entire fifteen years as a pure-blood wizard. 

Micklewick watched as James took a sip from his number 17, which looked to be a mixture of butterbeer and whipped cream poured into a clear wine glass. 

"Oh, and before I forget, open those chocolate frogs for me. And save the cards, make sure you don't damage them."

The snobbish and conceited tone that James always brought up couldn't fool the little house-elf, however, because he knew that his master considered him as family as well. It was just in James' personality to speak that way, and Micklewick had gotten quite used to it. 

"In a flash, Master James!" Micklewick squeaked. 

In a matter of seconds and house-elf magic, a tiny hill of chocolate frogs appeared on the silver tray. A pile of cards sat next to it, containing moving portraits of some of the most reknown wizards and witches in the world. 

James took the entire pile of cards at once; they were the ones he really looked forward to seeing over the chunks of frog-shaped chocolate. He muttered several names under his breath, apparently reading the names of the cards he got. And then, more than halfway through the pile, he suddenly choked on his number 17. 

Micklewick was frantic. "Master James! Micklewick is done bad to Master James! Bad Number 17! Bad Wick!" He banged his head on the edge of the pool repeatedly, making James raise a hand to the house-elf's face. 

"S-Stop that, you blundering little berk!" he managed to croak out as his coughing faded. Micklewick raised his head back up to see James glued to his new card collection. "What in Japes' is this?" 

James scanned each of the cards carefully again. He had Morgana, Morgana, Hengist, Gunhilda, Dumbledore, Agrippa, Dumbledore, Cliodna and another Gunhilda of Gorsemoor. And--- there was something else, which was either a huge mistake, or some other Chocolate Frog card James hadn't seen before. But even at first glance, James could tell it wasn't a Chocolate Frog card. 

He peered in closer to see three words engraved on a tiny, bronze, plate at the top: _Serpens Illecebra Obsequium, _whatever that meant. He then began to study the odd, moving portrait on the distinctly heavy card. 

There was a queer, and yet extremely realistic photograph of a dead, leafless tree with seven distinct branches. The card also seemed to be emitting a faint howling sound, particularly from the hole at the center of the tree trunk. And, what made it even queerer was the addition of seven serpents wrapped around the tree, one slithering around each branch, moving so smoothly and sneakily that they could just pop into real life with and with a plop into the pool.

He held the card up to a cross of the moonlight and floating flames conjured by Micklewick. It glimmered conspicuously, and yet only as flatly as a card can get. 

However, once James held it back into his face, it didn't look so flat anymore. In fact, it looked very much three-dimensional… or even four. And as though being lured into the picture, James held a finger up, feeling like he wanted to stroke one of the snakes in sheer curiosity... 

SPLASH! 

"Sheesh, Wick!" James scolded, feeling his heart jump startlingly at the sudden sound. His house-elf had fallen into the water. 

"Can you even support the weight of your own ruddy head, Wick? Quit fumbling around or I'll have those ears hexed!"

Micklewick brought himself back up to the edge of the pool and began banging his head onto the hard floor again. "Micklewick is very sorry, Master James! I is slipped on the puddle! I is humbly asking for your forgiveness, young Master James!" 

If James had acknowledged the apology, he didn't show it much. "Damn house-elf," he muttered crossly. "Take the entire tray to my room and hand me back my robe. I've had enough swimming for the night." 

After clothing himself once again, James kept his new additions to his card collection in a robe pocket, all except for the queer card that still rested in his damp hands. 

-=-=-=-

"Ouch!"

Lily winced as she felt her head bump onto her bed's headboard. She rubbed the spot gingerly, feeling irritated with the constant rings of her alarm clock echoing liberally in her ears. It didn't make things any better when her mother burst into her room all of a sudden, carrying a folded, white towel in her hands and a tiny bell between her thumb and index finger that seemed to _ting-a-ling _her senseless.

"Time to wake up, dear!" her mother exclaimed with an annoyingly perky smile, ringing the bell as though calling a puppy for her breakfast. "Oh, look at you, you look absolutely horrible... come on now, ditch the dilly-dally and rise and shine!"

"Mum..." Lily groaned, feeling like she'd barely gotten an hour of sleep. "It's half-past eight in the morning."

"Oh, no matter!" said Mrs. Evans cheerfully. She tore away the covers from Lily and parted the curtains open, letting a blinding amount of sun scream into the room.

Lily felt her eyes compress together immediately in response. "Mum! That hurts!"

Mrs. Evans shook a finger at her daughter animatedly. "Uh-uh-uh! Scowls never pay to begin the day, as I always say! Up and into the tub, now! Mummy isn't going to let you into that extravagant educational establishment with your hair sticking out like that! Magic and rich wizarding boys are waiting, dear! You must look your best!"

Scratching her head petulantly and still wearing a scowl, Lily got off her bed groggily and took the towel from her mother's hands. 

"Scrub well, dear! You must look your best for all those young, wizarding men!"

Rolling her eyes at her mother's persistent, interminable ambitions, she made her to the Evans' bathroom and locked the door behind her.

_Hmph... _rich, wizarding men_... is that all she thinks about?, _she thought disbelievingly as she paused in front of the mirror to wash her face.

She looked at the bleary reflection staring back at her, dented slightly in between the eyebrows from being irritated so early in the morning. Subconsciously, she began to study her own face-- small frame and nose, well-arched eyebrows and bright green eyes. Add to that, fine, wavy, auburn hair that could look nice if it wasn't this time of the day. Come to think of it, she didn't look all that bad. Maybe her mother was right. Maybe she could actually attract some rich wizarding boys without trying too hard...

_Oh, for Gryffindor's sake, why on earth are you thinking about those things?, _she argued with herself. _Physical beauty and wealth are not proper bases for a person's worth! _

Trying to shrug things off and avoid getting late at the same time, Lily twisted the tap open and began scrubbing her face. _Besides, _she continued in her thoughts, _all the rich wizarding boys I know are complete gits. _She couldn't help stifling a tiny grin as she thought of the first name that entered her head. 

_Potter._

_Hah!_

Her? Even _think_ of attracting someone as egoistic and spoiled as that immature boy? _In his dreams!_

_Then again, _Lily thought, her smile getting even wider as another name entered her mind, _there _is _Remus._ _He's not as rich as those other stuck-up Marauders, but he's always been so nice and helpful to me... never even joined in any of his friends' bullying sessions..._

Lily felt a tinge of soap sting her right eye as a tiny voice at the back of her head spoke up. '_You've got a crush on him, don't you?'_

"I do not!" she cried out loud, shutting her eyes tightly to fight back the soapy sting. She immediately placed her head under the faucet and started cleaning her eyes madly. _I do NOT have a crush on anybody!, _she said to herself in a more subtle manner, suddenly realizing how loud her voice had been.

"Is everything okay there, Lily, dear?" a voice called out from outside the bathroom door.

"Erm... yeah! I just got a-- a bit of soap in my eyes!"

There was a brief pause, and her mother's voice came sailing back into Lily's ears. "Okay, then, dear! Don't forget to scrub behind your ears!"

Lily shook her head in sheer disbelief once more, and looked back at her water-drenched reflection in the mirror. She sighed.

_You're hopeless, Lily, _she thought to herself vacantly.

-=-=-=-

It was already exactly ten in the morning when Lily bid her final goodbyes to her father and sister. It took about ten more minutes for William Evans to give his daughter a kiss on the cheek and several words of supposedly fatherly advice for "financial success when you graduate", and around ten seconds for Petunia to look up from the television and shoo her sister away with a "Yeah, bye, get out." By the time Lily and her mother got into the car, the day's traffic had already started. 

Lily sat quietly at the front seat of their old car, feeling both anxious and nervous at the same time. She was pondering on the coming school year when a very inconsiderate car honk sounded right beside her.

Mrs. Evans shook her head disapprovingly. "These people will never learn! _ Hmph_, honking their cheap little cars as though they were riding in limousines!"

Lily looked to her side and stifled a chuckle. It _was_ a limousine. And a white one at that.

"_Really_," her mother continued, talking to nobody in particular. "Such attention-seekers! Why, I would take off their engines personally if I were rich enough! These _cheap-skates_... can't even wait for the traffic to move... _social_-climbers... _honestly_..."

A chuckle was about escape Lily's throat when the car honk grew even louder at her side.

"Now that _is_ really rude!" 

Lily looked at the prim, expressionless limousine driver beside her in irritation. Mrs. Evans leaned past her daughter to look at the offending driver.

"Excuse me, but I believe you are--- oh!" The rambling expression of her face quickly changed into a pleasant, welcoming one as she saw the vehicle. "A limousine! My apologies, dear sir, and I must say, you have good taste in limousines! The color is just exquisite!"

Lily rolled her eyes. From what she knew, limousines hardly came in anything else other than black or white.

"Oh, have I introduced myself?" Mrs. Evans continued as though she wasn't in a car at all. Lily immediately wished that the traffic would move. "I'm Desiree Evans! Would you bother introducing the rich young lady you are working for, dear?"

The thirty-something driver looked at Lily's mother as though she was mentally ill. 

"I see, I've forgotten to introduce my daughter here!" Mrs. Evans continued with a very friendly smile. "This is Lily! Perhaps she and that rich young lady at the back can be friends?"

At once, the sliding window that separated the two ends of the limousine slid open. A pair of blue-gray eyes greeted Lily at once, accompanied by a teasing wink.

Lily felt her face burn. It was James Potter.

---

**A/N: **Phew! I finally got past the first chapter! I'm getting rather addicted to Meteor Garden and likened some of the characters to the ones in here. I've likened Dao to James, and Lily to who else… San Cai :) But that doesn't mean the whole plot will go the exact same way. ^_^ And there's a plot, I swear! It deals with how James and Lily deal with the outburst of the Seven Deadly Sins among their loved ones and how James deals with Lily's crush on another Marauder…no… no… please don't leave yet! **=P**. Please state your comments and suggestions through a helpful _review_! I need some feedback! So please review! **:^)**


	2. In the Face of Disgrace

**Disclaimer:** I don't have my name on Harry Potter or any part of the wizarding world. ^_^ I'm just a mere muggle trying to create an alternative world for this brainchild, which is owned by none other than Joanne Kathleen Rowling. :^) And I don't own _Meteor Garden_, either, from which some of the characters' personalities are based.

**Author's notes: **This fanfic was inspired by the television series _Meteor Garden_, and the animated film _Spirited Away_. ^_^ I tried to edit this chapter after realizing that I missed bits of James' personality out, especially the most important one about him... his short temper. 

**Seven Serpents**

_Chapter Two: In the Face of Disgrace_

---

"Why, hello there, young man!" Mrs. Evans chirped gleefully. She seemed so oblivious to the fact that several muggles were staring at her, it almost seemed possible for an evil overlord to come screaming at her ears through the car window without her even noticing. "It's James, isn't it? Lily's told me all about you! Looking rather indepent without your _possibly_ wealthy, influential parents now, are you?"

Lily was now bending her head so low, she could actually see the pieces of dirt and grime that gathered up in the mat of her mother's car. 

"Well, a lot of independent young men like you are making good names for themselves nowadays! I'm Desiree Evans, by the way!" Lily's mother repeated, seemingly immune to even the smallest amount of self-shame.

Instinctively, Lily took hold of the knob beside her and started using it to roll the window up furiously.

"How rude! " Mrs. Evans quipped, rolling the window back down. "Oh, by the way, Lily's here! Say hello, dear!"

There was a rude, derisive snort from the limousine, and Lily hoped that she could just get into a car accident once the traffic moved. She knew well that James Potter was not someone to say, "It's alright, really, I think your mother's wonderful", and then keep the scene buried under the sands of time forever. 

It wasn't at all difficult to think of him otherwise. Even with all her blood rushing towards her head from hiding it in humiliation at the moment, Lily could still remember all those atrocious moments where she had fallen victim to James' unabashed behaviour. Not that she could really count them all.

There was that one in her first year at Hogwarts, for instance, a time when she was still pining to learn this newfound discovery called 'magic' and was still completely naive to the childish antics of the said prankster. For no other purpose but to give in to his restlessness and utter tedium, James Pothead had actually traded in Lily's Yorkshire pudding with a bowl of mashed shrimp, mixed with something the Marauders had called _Eyes Cream_.

Although Lily never found out what that cream exactly was (and she really didn't want to know, anyway), she developed quite a gaudy amount of rashes on her arms and legs for an entire week. But this was not the work of the cream; Lily was coincidentally enough _allergic_ to shrimps. Those tactless Marauders found it so funny, victimizing Lily had become a habit soon after. _Really_. They were a disgrace to the Gryffindor house. 

But don't get her wrong, Lily didn't always shrug things off and run away. She was extremely tough towards the taunting she received from those boys, if not already the most strong-willed girl in her year. In fact, it was her choice to stand up to them that triggered a nasty boost in James' short temper. Perhaps, the only thing that weakened her defense against them was the lack of support from her own parents. She received unexpected reactions when she informed her parents about this constant bullying.

"Oh, that's wonderful, dear!" her mother had exclaimed. "At least boys have their attention on you! And wizards, too! What a handsome thought, perhaps those medieval fairy tales of magic can come true for you, after all!"

Lily thought her father would disapprove of this remark, but after she had told him about it, she knew she had thought wrong.

"Are they rich, Lily? Maybe you can actually marry one of them when you grow up! Look at Petunia here, she's found somebody with a rich background already! Rather morbidly obese, of course, but very much capable of supporting a good family..."

And right now, introducing herself to a complete stranger who, by some ugly twist of fate, was the same bullying bulk of boy Lily had been putting up with for an entire four years, her mother wasn't helping her at all. 

"I'm sure you already know that Lily's a very bright student. She receives top marks at her Charms class every year! Excellent, really. But you know, I believe I was also quite the over-achiever when I was her age! But we didn't have all those additional, advanced classes, of course. We had all of the good old-fashioned ones... Arithmetic, Geography, English... oh, and mind you, I aced four exams all in all throughout high school... yes, counted them all, actually! Like mother, like daughter, I say..."

_ Please, _Lily pleaded in her thoughts, _let the darn traffic move!!!_

-=-=-=-

James was having the time of his life. And the school year hadn't even started yet.

_ This is even better than those wide-screen muggle movies, _he thought, amused. He almost wished he had his wizarding camera at the moment... or perhaps one of those muggle video ones. It was hard to stifle his urge to emboss this event in history and reproduce every single moment through mass production. Just like all the other pranks and acts of humiliation he had played on that foolish, red-headed girl.

How could he not resist?

Sure, there were a lot of other quick-tempered girls to pick on, but Lily Evans had gotten to him somehow. Her annoyed and belligerent facial expressions had always acted as excellent catalysts to trigger another set of good ideas for James and his almost equally shameless trouble-making friends. He just loved it when she got angry or humiliated, from that reddening patch of skin to those narrowed, bright green eyes. Codswallop, it was almost a constant _invitation_ for him to pick on her!

"A lovely morning to you, Mrs. Evans," James greeted suavely through the sliding door, past the driver's window, and across a partially hidden tuft of Lily's auburn hair. The girl seemed to have a rather amusing interest in rubber car mats at the moment.

How Mrs. Evans had heard him so easily was a bit of a mystery, but then again, James had always had a surprisingly good amount of charisma whenever he spoke to people.

"You look especially beautiful today," he added with a handsome, well-practiced smile.

James actually saw Mrs. Evans blush. "Oh! What a charming lad you are... your parents must be so proud of you! It would do me a deal better if Lily was more like you, of course."

"Mum--"

"What does your father do, by the way? Or your mother? They're business tycoons, I presume? Well, I wouldn't be surprised if they were. What are their names? Maybe we could get together sometime over a cup of tea..."

"Mum!" A rather relieved voice muttered from the floor of the Evans' car. "Traffic's moving!"

Desiree Evans looked disappointed, but a wide, welcoming smile broke into her face almost immediately as she looked back at James. "Alright then, I'll see you at King's Cross! Maybe the two of you could be best friends so you could teach Lily a thing or two about elegance and wealth..."

-=-=-=-

All the blood seemed to rush back to their proper arteries once Lily brought her head back up. It came as such a relief when that stubborn little traffic light finally turned green. "Why did you have to do that?" Lily demanded irritably once the limousine had zoomed out of sight.

"Do what, dear?" her mother replied, eyes still focused on the road before her.

Lily looked very much prone to bursting. "Blabber in front of that--- that--- pig!"

"Pig?"

"James!"

"Young lady, I do not approve of you using such a filthy word on such a charming young man!" Mrs. Evans reprimanded lightly. "Don't be such a pig!"

Lily sighed deeply.

"Why, you could learn a thing or two from that boy! So pleasant, and ever so polite!"

"But mum!" Lily retorted impatiently, "You don't know what he's like! That's the egoistic, short-tempered... _pig _... I've been telling you about! He bullies me all the time and---"

Mrs. Evans waved a hand in front of Lily's face. "Oh, no, of course not! You're being too sensitive, dear. You just need to get to know him... perhaps marry him! He seems like a very charming young man, after all... oh, here we are!"

Opening the car door, Lily glanced at the familiar train station before her. As always, it was crowded with people of different sorts, muggle and wizarding folks alike. Her mother helped her unload her trunks onto a cart and into the station. Lily easily found platforms nine and ten, between which was the barrier that led to the hidden platform she was looking for.

"Have a good term, dear," Mrs. Evans said, leaning over to plant a kiss on Lily's cheek. "And do start introducing yourself to those rich wizarding boys... I'll see you, Lily!" And after a goodbye hug from her mother, Lily charged into the barrier with her trolley.

The familiar scarlet train greeted her upon her arrival at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, along with several familiar faces from school. She was about to step into an empty compartment when a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind.

_ Just my luck_, she thought with a sigh. She was really getting annoyed with that ocean of messy, jet-black hair, and those teasing blue-gray eyes.

Potter.

"Hey, Evans," he smirked, looking at her with that familiar, malicious glint in his eyes. "It was nice meeting your mother back there. You've got her green eyes, you know... and her spot in St. Mungo's."

Lily could feel the fume erupting from her own ears. "Put a snitch in it, Potter," she spat back.

A nasty flare shot up in James' eyes. "_What_ did you say?" he said threateningly, grabbing her by the neckline of her sweater. Lily, though slightly shaken, tried to keep an angry face for herself and glared straight into his eyes as he spoke. "You'd better keep that mouth clean, Evans. It just adds to the disgrace of being such an insolent streetrat."

Ignoring the fact that she was of the opposite gender, he shoved her onto the floor as he strode away to greet his friends, all of whom had just entered through the barrier.

"I am not a streetrat!" she called, but her voice weakened slowly at the end, seeing that she wouldn't be listened to anyway. Furious at his own temper, Lily tossed her baggages into the compartment angrily and slammed the sliding door shut. Smart though James was, he still needed to learn a thing or two about having a pleasing attitude.

Tightening a fist angrily, Lily rambled in her thoughts with a scowl on her face. _He thinks being rich gives him a cut above the rest! What a git! And that hurt, too... _, she added, rubbing her elbows gingerly.

Lily shrugged her anger off with a huge, slow sigh as she seated herself. She then proceeded to take one of her new schoolbooks for a bit of advanced reading, placing it on her lap whilst attempting to keep all the other nasty thoughts in her head away from her conscience. But it was hard, especially when James' voice, sounding scripted and rather loud, suddenly became audible even with them being a few feet away from the closed compartment she was in.

"Guess what," he began, making Lily feel very irritated indeed. 

"Finally whacked Snape's greasy noodle?" came a second voice, which Lily recognized to be the voice of Sirius Black, James' very roguish bestfriend.

"Even better," James replied in the same, oddly volumed tone. "I got Evans' wand."

Eyes widening and heart skipping a beat, Lily felt around her pockets. Apparently, he was right--- her wand wasn't there!

_ Agh! Damn the prats!,_ she thought touchily.

And much to James' and his friends' amusement, Lily came bursting out of her compartment in seconds with her face burning. "James Potter, give me my wand right this instant!"

James snickered. He waved it several times above her, taking advantage of his slightly towering frame, and threw it straight into the wall of a compartment.

SNAP!

A dungbomb seemed to have dropped in Lily's stomach. Her wand had broken in half.

"_Argh!_ Potter! You broke my wand!" she shouted angrily. Her eyes narrowed into angry, greenish slits.

James didn't even have a trace of guilt in his handsome appearance. "What's the matter, Evans? Don't even have a few Galleons to buy yourself a new one?"

Lily walked over furiously to the boy with flared nostrils. "_Why_ do you have to be so demented? What, you think being rich gives you the authority to treat others this way?" She felt her eyes getting watery as her patience took off for a vacation in Hawaii. "Listen, _Potter_, this is the last straw. I'm giving you three days-- _three,_ _solid_ days to replace my wand, or you'll wish I'd just let you rot in Azkaban for the rest of your nasty, worthless life!"

Peter narrowed his eyes. "Ooh."

As proud as Lily might have felt for standing up to James, it didn't seem like she had done the right move. The familiar flare in James' eyes flashed anger at her as he raised a fist to the girl's face .

"Whoa, hold it there, Jamesie boy," Sirius said immediately, holding him off. "That's a girl in front of you... cool down!"

James snatched his arms away from Sirius' grasp and glared at her. "Keep your eyes on, Evans," James continued, eyes narrowed at her. "It just shows that you're too poor to even identify a _twig_ from your own wand."

James inserted a hand into a pocket, and took out a sleek, willow stick. "That was a fake, in case you were too _thick_ to take that in."

Lily blushed furiously upon seeing her mistake. "My--- my wand," Lily muttered weakly.

"Oh, look, brains!" James exclaimed mockingly, giving her a sneer. "You need to control your own temper a bit, Evans. It's turning your hair red."

Lily glowered at him.

"Well, you should talk! Why don't you use up your time correcting your own instead of using it out on others, then? _Just_ _grow up!_" she said with an icy glare. Wanting to avoid any further trouble from him, Lily ran off to her compartment.

_ Stupid marauding git, _Lily thought crossly. _Imagine! Taking my wand like that! And trying to hit a girl! Juvenile prat!!!_

Lily was angrily rambling in her thoughts when the compartment door slid open. She looked up with a dent in between her brows, similar to the one she had earlier that day. The compartment gradually revealed a handsome, sandy-haired boy with hazel eyes. It was the boy she least disliked among the four troublemakers, Remus Lupin.

Remus was extremely quiet and reflective; he usually didn't say anything unless the situation required it. Although he played along with his friends' pranks, he was never as aggressive as any of them. On the contrary, he was very smart and philosophical, someone you wouldn't expect to be part of a group like that.

"What do you want?" Lily demanded irately, ignoring the fact that she actually liked the boy. "What, here to harass me with another one of your friends' little pranks?"

Still feeling irate from the little encounter she had a while ago, Lily watched as he placed a hand into a robe pocket and took something out.

"Take it," he said quietly, handing her what turned out to be a chocolate frog wrapped in a bit of foil. "It will make you feel better."

Lily stared at him for a while with furrowed eyebrows, as though trying to see if he was lying. "Listen, if you think I'm going to fall for---"

"It's _not_ hexed. If you don't want it, then just say so."

"Oh," Lily muttered. Remus could get unsociably quiet at times, but she trusted him more than the other three, anyway. "Erm, thanks. And...I-- I'm sorry if---" 

"Just eat it," he replied in the same air of silence. "And you shouldn't let yourself lose your temper like that in front of James; otherwise, you'll just be hypocritical about it and make the situation worse." Without another word, he walked back outside.

_ He can be so kind at times, _she thought. _It's almost as though he wasn't a Marauder._

Lily unwrapped the chocolate frog gingerly, peeling off the silvery cover of foil that stuck to it. She could see that it was very much clean, and was merely taken out of its original container. She bit into the frog-shaped chunk of chocolate carefully, and instantly felt a comforting sort of warmth spread to her fingertips.

_ Hmph, stupid Remus,_ she added hastily to her thoughts. _He always has to be so..._, she took another bite of the frog carefully, _....different._

She was already halfway through the frog when the compartment door slid open once more.

"Hey, Lily!" 

It was another boy of the same age, with dirty-blond hair and startling blue eyes. His build was a little on the bulky side, and his hair was of the short and wavy sort. His cheeks were also distinctly rosy and chubby, making him look slightly younger than he was supposed to be.

This boy's name was Mundungus Fletcher, Lily's muggleborn childhood friend. They had been best friends ever since they became seatmates in the third grade at a local muggle elementary, and had been even more inseparable once they both learned that they had both gotten an acceptance letter to Hogwarts.

"Hey, Gus!" Lily said, smiling back at him and feeling a bit more cheerful than before.

"Summer went by quickly, didn't it?" he said with a tone of disappointment as he heaved his trunks aside Lily's. "Too bad, too, especially since Yam and I really enjoyed those icy swimming trips back in Japan... right Yam?" He turned to the little gray owl staring at him in its cage.

"You went swimming with your _owl_?" Lily asked, intrigued by an image of William the owl hooting underwater aside Mundungus' cheery, childish face.

"Well, so Yam didn't exactly go swimming, but he enjoyed the cold atmosphere anyway... so, how'd _your_ summer go?"

-=-=-=-

"Went the way it's supposed to," James answered in the compartment he shared with the rest of the marauders, with the usual, almost lazy expression on his face. "Father took us sight-seeing in France, and then we went to Greece for a four-day vacation. Met several wizarding girls, but it was hard to make things work out with them speaking in everything but English...."

"Who cares?" Sirius said bluntly. "As long as they're rich and beautiful, it can't really matter that much... hey, cart's coming. I could do with some of those Chocolate Frogs at the moment." He got up with Peter and met the cart lady in advance, unable to stifle their hunger.

James suddenly felt himself jump in his seat. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot!" He grabbed one of his bags and parted it open, then took out something flat and shiny. "I found this last night in one of the Chocolate Frog packets. But it isn't part of the collection. Probably misplaced by some doddering old bloke."

"Let me see that," Remus said calmly, taking the odd card from James' hand. He looked at it closely, from the slithering serpents to the seemingly dead tree. He looked back up to see Sirius striding back over with a bunch of sweets in his hands a few minutes after. "This doesn't look good."

"Hmm," Sirius said, peering over Remus' shoulder to look at the card. "Maybe it's a special edition sort or something."

"It's hard to tell," James quipped. "And there's a bit of foreign riffraff at the bottom."

"Let me see," Peter said, walking over from the sweets cart, which he had just practically raided for a load of sweets. "Whoa. This looks neat."

Taking the card in his own hands, he looked at it closely, pressing his face closer into it until his nose was just an inch away from it. Everything that followed happened all too soon.

The card had a particularly strange air of enticement in it, something Peter couldn't fully understand. It was as though that faint, howling sound coming from the center of the trunk was inviting it to something; to simply get sucked in without even knowing it; to slither along with one of the serpents as though he was one of them....

And, subconsciously, he held up a finger to one of the snakes in response to that strange, alluring howl, and struck it gently as though it were for real. And oddly enough, it felt strangely three-dimensional to him; not at all like a mere flat card.

Peter watched, as though in a brief trance, as that particular serpent hissed and glowed a swampy, eerie green, and then coiled itself around the branch, suddenly turning immobile. Peter felt a sudden, strange feeling of relief, a different sort of warmth passing through every nerve in his body, and settling itself at the very tips of his fingers.

"Peter!"

He snapped out of the uncalled for trance at once, and gazed around for while. It was James that had called his name.

"What's wrong with you? _Infatuated_ with the card or something?" he said with a hint of mockery.

"Oh... just-- just looking," he mumbled, more to himself than to the others. He didn't know what happened in those few, alluring minutes, but somehow, he knew one thing was for sure.

_ Food,_ he thought weakly.

He was hungry. Extremely hungry.

---

**A/N: **I hope that didn't get too boring... I'm getting worried about this story as I might screw it up again, like the other fanfics I've written. Sometimes, even though you've got a plot ready, writer's block comes sneaking in and threatening the story and all, and both the writing and the plot go bad, ruining the entire fic. I hope that didn't happen here, as I'm not feeling particularly good about this chapter. It was slightly crammed, as I still have to write the last chapter of my other fic, "It's All in the Diapers". Tell me if I can improve anything, okay? ^_^

Please don't forget to leave a review! ^_~ Thanks!

And thank you to my lovely reviewers!

**Lucy: **Thanks. ^_^ I'm glad you liked Micklewick's loyalty... I tried to create him after Dobby's liberal personality, actually. ^_^ Petunia's character is good? Thanks! I was getting a little worried about her, since I wasn't sure on how to depict her in this fic. ^_~ Thanks again!

**Liat86: **I'm really glad you do! ^_~ Meteor Garden rules, probably next to Harry Potter, and aside Rugrats! :^) It's an excellent series, isn't it? ^_^ Thanks a whole lot for the wonderful review! ^_~

**K. Ashley: **Thank you! ^_^ Yup, exactly! I'm glad he came out Malfoy-ish, as that's how I wanted him to be. ^_~ Thank you so much and I hope the update didn't take too long!

**reader: **This may sound weird, but I like your pen name. ^_~ Hehe... it just sounds so simple and obvious to use that... heh, I really don't know why it caught my attention... ^_^ Anyway, thanks! ^_~ I'm really glad you found both that way. ^_^

**Stefanorkle: **Hehe! I'm glad Mrs. Evans' character came out fine! ^_~ She's a goof, isn't she? ^_^ Hehe, poor Lily... ^_^ Hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^_~ Thanks!

**KirbeeDesirae: **I'm happy you found it great, KirbeeDesirae! ^_^ Hehe... I also like James this way. ^_^ Poor Mrs. Evans... perfectly awful really suits her perfectly. ^_~ Oh, and now that you've mentioned it, it's actually beginning to remind me of the Ring as well! Maybe it's because of the hole and the sound, maybe they reminded you of the well and the screeching...yike... I don't really want to think about it right now, especially at this time of the night...er, day (it's midnight right now =P)^_~ Anyway, thanks a lot for the review! ^_^

**Stating-the-obvious: **Hmm.. interesting nick. ^_~ Glad you found it good. Oi, you're right, he does seem like a snot. ^_^ Hehe.. ^_^ Sorry if Lily seemed a bit shallow... I guess I got too obsessed with exaggerating Desiree Evans' character that Lily's own came along with it... heh, anyway, thanks so much for the review! ^_^

**sorcerer: **Glad you did. ^_^ I hope you don't get too impatient with my writing speed! ^_^ Sometimes I write so slowly it bores me. :^) Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reviewing! ^_~

Addy: I'm extremely glad you enjoyed it that way! ^_~ And I love Mrs. Evans, too, even though she is perfectly awful. ^_^ Thanks! ^_^

**Oliver's gurl: **Lucky gurl! ^_~ Hehe...Thanks! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^_^

**Chibi-Cola: **Hey, I'm glad you were attracted to it! You reminded me of the Serpens Illecebra Obsequium card... ^_^ Hehe... ^_~ Yup, she's annoying! But she amuses me too... I hope her character didn't get too corny, though. ^_^ My humor skills aren't very good in stories... :^P I'm happy you liked my writing style, thanks! ^__^ Oh, and I hope you get to know about Meteor Garden someday... it's just one of the best TV romantic-comedies I've watched to date! ^_^ Thanks! ^_~

**WindRider -Damia: **That was a good metaphor, actually. ^_~ I think I'll save that. ^_^ I'm glad you liked it. Thanks! ^_~

**Siren: **And I'm happy you're liking it! Hope you enjoyed this one, too, and I hope you keep on reading! ^_~ Thanks!

**CeciliaOrechio: **Hey! I'm glad you reviewed this story! ^_~ I'm also glad you found Mrs. Evans amusing. ^_^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too! Thanks an entire lot! I'll try checking your stories out soon, if you have any new ones. ^_^ Have you received my e-mail? Anyway, thanks a lot! ^_~

-*_*-*_*-*_*-


	3. Early Pangs of Gluttony

**Disclaimer:** I don't have my name on Harry Potter or any part of the wizarding world. ^_^ I'm just a mere muggle trying to create an alternative world for this brainchild, which is owned by none other than Joanne Kathleen Rowling. :^) And I don't own _Meteor Garden_, either, from which some of the characters' personalities are based. 

**Author's notes: **This fanfic was inspired by the television series _Meteor Garden_, and the animated film _Spirited Away_. ^_^. By the way, I'm sorry for the crammed and crappy last chapter. As you may have noticed, the dialogues and descriptions seemed a bit rushed, which may have made the characterizations a bit shallow... anyway, I hope this chapter will be a better read for all of you. 

And in reference the Sorting Hat song you are going to come across in this chapter, I borrowed it from one of my old fics in my old account (it's been abandoned, and I'm not planning to update there anymore. I cleaned up that account for the mere, shameful reason of valuing reviews at that time, and I decided I would just do a better version of stories in this new one here and not do it for the sole purpose of receiving reviews.). ^_^

Oh, and I'm sorry for the late update! I'm getting to be a very slow writer now for some reason... if I can call myself that. Maybe it's early writer's block. =/ I've also recently been infected with a certain little virus called Varicella... also known as chickenpox. =D It's incredibly annoying that I hadn't gotten it when I was younger.*sticks tongue out at lesions* And since school is about to start in a week, please don't expect any quick updates. I'll try to continue writing as soon and as quickly as possible, okay? ^_^

Yike, almost forgot... my other fic, "It's All in the Diapers" is currently on hiatus. ^_^ I'm still deciding if I should extend the plot or finish it within the sixth chapter already. I'll be trying to write as fast as I can, okay? ^_^ Hopefully I won't be giving in to sloth anytime soon... ^_~ Anyway, here's chapter three. ^_^

*I added two short paragraphs at the end, just to keep that part of the plot out of the way already. :-)

**Seven Serpents**

_Chapter Three: Early Pangs of Gluttony_

--- 

_ Lily opened her eyes silently, and suddenly realized that she wasn't in the train compartment anymore. Instead, she was sitting on a patch of grass from the Hogwarts grounds, just before the Great Lake. Before she could even take in her new surroundings, a familiar figure materialized slowly before her._

_ Remus Lupin stood there, giving her the most handsome smile she had ever seen, with strands of sandy hair falling freely on his smooth forehead. His hazel eyes sparkled in the distance, like a pair of golden snitches Lily would have agreed to catch, even if that meant having to learn how to play Quidditch. She looked at him dreamily as he came walking towards her, pausing only until the only thing that separated the two of them was less than a foot's length of wonderful green grass._

_ All of a sudden, he covered his head with both hands, tugging at his ruffled, sandy hair as though he was in great pain. _

_ "What's wrong?" Lily asked somewhat frantically, leaning in to take a good look at him. "Rem... are you alright?"_

_ But it was already clear that he wasn't. Lily watched in horror as shoots of mangy, black hair sprouted over his once sand-colored ones, and unknowingly kept her jaw agape as his hazel eyes morphed into a darker shade. Feeling her heart beat faster, she jumped as she felt a cold tentacle suddenly poke her from behind._

_ "Hey, Lily!"_

_ She turned around to look behind her with another slight jump, and saw the giant squid rising from the Great Lake, smiling at her with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. "..M--Mundungus!?"_

_ The giant squid with Mundungus' face merely smiled and continued poking her with a slimy tentacle. Trying to ignore the queerness of it all, she looked back to face Remus again, except this time she couldn't do that, exactly._

_ Because someone else had taken Remus' place. Or at least, Remus' head._

_ "James?!" Lily cried, bringing a hand to her mouth in absolute shock._

_ The boy laughed mischievously, looking extremely out of place with his head on Remus' body. Lily screamed, unable to move in shock, and at the same time listening to the giant squid call her from behind._

_ "Lily, Lily! Hey, Lily!"_

_+_+_+_+_

"Lily! Lily, wake up!"

Lily pried her eyes open with a slight jump. She gave out a startled squeal as Mundungus' eager blue eyes suddenly came into place.

"Lily! Agh, finally! You know how much time it can take for you to get up? I've probably called your name---" he began counting on his fingers, "--thirteen times already! I reckon we'd be the only ones left here if we don't get a quick move on. And you were telling me to go away too, what was that all about? I mean, I know you get all grouchy when you wake up but I didn't think you'd be _ that _ grumpy."

"Oh, erm, right," Lily managed to croak out, looking around and realizing that she was still in the compartment, and not sitting by the Great Lake. "Sorry."

_ What a weird dream, _she thought, dazed, as she followed Mundungus out of the Hogwarts Express and into Hogsmeade station. A crowd of voices instantly surrounded them, with the rest of the students already making their way towards a row of more than a hundred horseless stagecoaches on the rough mud track. Mundungus spotted an empty stagecoach at the end and immediately climbed aboard it with Lily, shrugging away the fact that it smelled of old straw.

Just seconds before the two of them began to trundle on with the carriage towards the familiar, iron-wrought gates leading to Hogwarts, Lily peered through the carriage's tiny window and realized that she was looking towards the end of Hogsmeade station. With slight difficulty in the darkness, she spotted that the blanket of watery black that was the Great Lake, which currently just looked like a puddle in the distance, was now being sailed on by the first years for their traditional boat journey to the castle. 

The two of them didn't say much for the first part of trip, what with Lily staring outside the window and Mundungus reading a wizarding comic book ("The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle"). Although she was still feeling slightly groggy from her short nap in the train, it was Lily who finally broke the silence seconds after the platform gradually vanished behind her.

"You know what?" Lily said, the wind turning her shoulder-length hair into a stream of red. "I dreamt you were a squid. You know, the Giant Squid from the Great Lake, and you were poking me from behind like crazy." 

"A squid?" Mundungus asked, slightly flabbergasted as he looked up from what he was reading. "That's nutty! How did I look?" 

Lily grinned. "No difference, really." 

"Hey! I don't look like a squid! Besides, I don't think can't imagine myself dripping ink everywhere like that... imagine what Filch would do to me if I were transfigured into a squid!" 

"Not a bad idea, Fungus," said a new voice from the suddenly opened carriage door. 

Lily and Mundungus turned towards the source, both suddenly realizing that the carriage had already halted. And as though it Lily had been expecting it as part of her daily schedule, she instantly locked glares with her disadvantageously wealthy, mis-sorted housemate. 

"Potter," she said, eyeing him angrily. "Sod off."

James, who was standing in his school robes just outside the carriage, raised an eyebrow suavely. "Why, I was only picking up new ideas from stubby old Fletchley here. And what an excellent idea it was, to transfigure geeky little gits into squids."

"It's Flet-cher!" Mundungus corrected adamantly.

James smirked at him. "Oh, is it, _Fungus_?"

Lily continued glaring at the abominable boy. "What _is_ your problem, Potter? Can't you just get a move on without using your foul mouth on other people?"

"Not if you don't watch your own damned one, Evans," he said with a nasty glare. "We _prefects_ can't let this kind of behaviour spread around the school. Speaking of which, you two really _should _be making your way towards the Great Hall now. You wouldn't want Gryffindor to suffer because of your own worthless shows of tardiness, now, would you?"

---

"Ooh, what a prick!" Lily grumbled after James finally left them, joining the crowd up the steps towards the castle. "Can you even _imagine _him as our prefect?"

Mundungus rolled his eyes as he and Lily passed through the gigantic front doors towards the entrance hall, which contained several flaming torches and a splendid marble staircase at one side. "Puh. He can't even get my name right."

Following the rest towards the open door at the right of the said chamber, Lily and Mundungus joined their other schoolmates in entering the Great Hall. It looked magnificent as ever, with the flames of floating candles reflected on the countless golden utensils laid on four long tables, which were already occupied by handfuls of babbling students. Lily looked up to see that the enchanted ceiling was covered in early evening cirrus clouds before she took a seat with her best friend at the Gryffindor table.

"Oh, Lily! Gus!"

A very pretty black girl sat herself right across Lily. If someone were to see her for the first time, it would be unmistakable to say that her eyes would be the first assets that person would be able to notice. The girl had warm, light gray eyes that complemented her complexion very well, and yet stood out so distinctly that it added Galleons to her charm.

"'Lo, Ed," greeted Mundungus, suddenly feeling rather hungry from the long train ride.

"Hey, Edith!" Lily greeted, face lighting up upon seeing her roommate and close friend. "I didn't see you at the train a while ago. Where'd you go off to?"

Edith gave a small shrug. "Well, I got a bit caught in the traffic and arrived-- I don't know-- maybe a good three minutes before the train left. It was actually fortunate I made it at all!" Her eyes suddenly shot past Lily, and towards a group of Gryffindors walking past the other tables to take their own seats.

"What's wrong?" Mundungus asked, looking behind him quickly.

"Ed, don't tell me... the Marauders just walked behind me again, didn't they?" Lily said, not even bothering to turn around as she heaved a tiny sigh. She knew that look very well; Edith had been admiring them ever since she became Sirius' seatmate in her first year.

Edith, who immediately realized that her eyes were following the Marauders to their seats at her left, snapped out of the brief trance at once. "Oh, righ-- I mean, how did you know?"

"Oh believe me, I'm psychic," Lily replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Edith's recurring display of infatuation. Seeing Mundungus staring at the Marauders as well, she shoved him and winced. "Gus, please! Not you too! I mean, they _may_ be good-looking and all but you're a _boy_ for goodne--"

Mundungus looked at his best friend, and eyes widening, he suddenly realized what she was talking about. "Hey, gross... yuck... gross! No way!" he blurted out at once, waving his arms in front of her to shrug any indecent thoughts off her head. 

He was, in fact, looking in their direction, but this time, fortunately, it wasn't due to infatuation. "That's sick! Of course not! I'm straight, okay? And I was just looking at Peter! He's acting all wei--"

"Peter?" Edith asked, theatrically baffled. 

Lily mocked a strong grimace. "You like _Peter_?!"

But neither Lily nor Edith bothered on finding this out anymore, because before Mundungus could even reply, a faint shout came out from where he was staring. 

_+_+_+_+_

_ "Ouch!" _James exclaimed faintly, waving his thumb madly. It was now furrowed in the middle and glowed a nasty shade of red. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing, Pettigrew?!"

Peter looked up at him wearily, looking as though he was only beginning to realize that biting people's fingers was actually queer. "Er... I.. I...er.. got you there, now, didn't I?" He attempted to flash a good-natured smile at him, which looked absolutely forced.

"Hey, Petey boy," Sirius said teasingly, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're hungry and all, but I didn't think you were that famished. Care for another thumb?" He waved his own in front of Peter's face mockingly.

"Are you alright, Peter?" Remus asked, bending over from the seat across his friend. 

Peter forced a hearty laugh. "Hey, heh, it was a joke, you know!" 

James looked at Peter oddly, feeling completely in need of reassurance from his strange behaviour. _Crazy git_, he thought unsurely as he got a glimpse of Evans and her stupid little friends staring at them. He stood up and gave them a good, piercing glare before he returned back to his seat.

_+_+_+_+_

Lily felt a pang of annoyance rise up her spine. "Oh, that Potter is just getting on my nerves!"

"What was up with Peter, there?" Edith asked conspicuously, tearing away from her gaze towards the Marauders. "That was completely disgusting! He bit James' thumb!" 

"He deserved it, anyway," Lily said with a scowl as she watched a stern-looking witch by the name of Professor McGonagall carry a three-legged stool into the hall. She immediately noticed that the first years had already entered the Great Hall.

"Or maybe, Peter Pettigrew is actually a Cannibal lurking beneath a secret, undiscovered potion that can turn you physically into any other person you'd like to be," Mundungus began, narrowing his eyes dramatically. "And unbeknownst to us all, he might have recently created a demented plot to devour all of his supposed Maraudering allies along with the Slytherins... _limb.. _by..._ limb_."

He caught the odd glances he was receiving from his friends and quickly added, "..or...erm, not. Hey, finally, the Sorting's starting."

Everyone soon stared at the patched and frayed wizard's hat settled atop the three-legged stool. The entire hall fell almost completely silent, except for a snicker Lily thought to have heard from somewhere at her far left, as a wide tear near the hat's brim opened into something of a mouth, and began to break into song:

_For years I have been sitting  
With crude stitches on my brim  
But once a sit atop a tuft  
Something comes out from within  
The memories of Godric  
Who's got Gryffindor to own  
Brings a thought of stunning bravery  
With courage on its throne  
And there's Rowena Ravenclaw  
Of cleverness and wit  
The place of valued learning  
Where ready minds do dare sit  
Of course there's Helga Hufflepuff  
Whose loyalty at heart  
Has patience far from withering  
And difficult to thwart---  
_

But the next part of the song seemed to have been cut off. The Sorting Hat suddenly froze in front of everyone, and it began to cough-- or at least it seemed that way, sending a blister of murmurs to erupt among the tables and the crowd of first years at the entrance. Professor McGonagall wasted no time and immediately rushed towards it; but before she could even touch the stool, the hat's tip shook itself, as though shaking its head, and it cleared its throat completely before returning to sing.

_--Now if you are a slimy git_

_Of Salazar's descent,_

_With abnormal, greasy body parts_

_And sarcasm to commend_

_Then you belong in Slytherin,_

_the house of sneering dolts_

_ Whose sly and cunning attributes_

_make up for unscrewed bolts!_

Peals of laughter erupted from the tables, particularly every one of them but the Slytherins'. Lily was certain that no matter how livid James was of Peter at the moment, the loudest snorts inside the hall were still sure to be coming from their group of four. And she was right. Even Remus, who was normally serious and calm, had an amused grin on his face.

McGonagall's eyes, however, widened into angered globes. "Honestly, that was deliberate! You should be more shameful of your--"

"Now, now, Minerva, I believe our new students do not need this kind of display on their very first day," Dumbledore said sternly at the faculty table fronting the lot of students, enchanting blue eyes scrolling over the students. They seemed to be passing too frequently over the Gryffindor table as he spoke. "_Whoever _twisted the Sorting Hat's tongue will be dealt with accordingly _after_ the Sorting. Now let us continue." 

Lily couldn't help but swear that Dumbledore's tightened line of a mouth was already _pining_ to break into an amused grin.

_+_+_+_+_

James ran a hand through his jet black hair as he was overcome with a ton of hefty snickers. He couldn't help it; the looks on the Slytherins' faces were just classic!

"Damn, James, that was brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed in a whisper, not bothering to watch as the first new students got sorted. "Did you see the look on Snape's face? Hah, paint his nose yellow and he'd get mistaken for a phoenix!"

James exchanged brotherly knuckles with Sirius as he gradually regained his composure. "Don't blame it all on the prefect, Sirius. It was Rem, after all, who did all the research." He gave Remus a good-natured punch on the shoulder.

Remus shook his head, and yet grinned nonetheless. 

"Neat trick you guys," Peter added, still looking worn-out and pale. 

"Listen, Pete, are you sure you're alright?" James asked him. The laughter did him good, as the bite he had from Peter a while ago seemed to have gone forgotten. "You look like you could eat an acromantula."

"Really, I'm fine, okay?" Peter replied rather boldly. "Just shove off." He stared at James for a good while, and finally let his eyelids drop. His head drooped down with a _clang_ onto the golden plate set before him.

The second-year girl sitting beside Peter squealed upon seeing him unconscious, and immediately stood up. 

"Professor McGonagall, someone's fainted!"

The next unsorted first year stopped walking midway towards the three-legged stool, turning his head around to take a peek at the Gryffindor table. The rest of the population did likewise, conducting a brief silence at first; but soon, dozens of gasps and new murmurs surrounded the Great Hall. 

All attention seemed to have been focused on the-Gryffindor-boy-who-fainted at that moment; if this was otherwise, someone would have noticed the wind carry off something-- a card with unusual illustrations of serpents and a dead tree-- as it slid across the floor, halting just beneath the Slytherin table, and smack aside the shoe of a certain unsuspecting, greasy-haired Slytherin fifth year by the name of Severus Snape.

_+_+_+_+_

**A/N: **If any of you are wondering, the Marauders aren't using their nicknames for each other yet because they haven't discovered how to change into Animagi yet. But they will in future chapters, so don't worry. ^_^ Thank you all those who read and reviewed!

**Chibi-Cola: **Hey, thanks... I'm really happy you did. ^_^ I'm also glad you enjoyed those parts and characterizations. It's unfortunate the Netherlands don't have it yet... anyway, if it ever does, be sure to watch out for it! And hey, although you don't have MG there, I don't think being Dutch sounds so bad. ^_^ Thanks for your wonderful reviews!

**Doneril: **Thanks, I'm glad you do! ^_^ What Lily/James will fall prey to is going to arrive in the later chapters, as I'm planning to place the less significant ones before them. Not all of them will become victims, but several are definitely going to get affected in several ways. :^)

**Siriusly Weird: **Hehe, the classic pun for a nickname! I like it! ;-) Anyway, thanks! I'm happy you liked Mrs. Evans too. I'll be writing some more, I promise, but I can't guarantee extremely quick chapters. It can take me eons to update at times, I'm sorry. ^_^ Thanks nonetheless!

**Sabriel4: **Yup, I reserved Envy for someone else. ^_~ I thought it would be better that way, and I wanted to give Peter something outside his stereotype. Thank you so much for the compliments! And for the possible R/L, well, it IS possible. ^_^ Just keep on reading, and things will emerge eventually. Thanks again! ^_^

**zwizwi: **Hehe, I hope so too. I'm quite happy that my own mother isn't like that. ^_^ Thank you, and I hope it will prove to be promising in the near future. Thanks again!

**Stating-the-obvious: **Oh, hehe, sorry about that! It's alright though, I've burst into peals of laughter in public several times before for no reason. ^__^ I agree with what you said about the snot and the shallow. Hee.. ^_^ Thanks so much!

**CarmenSandiego: **Hey! Your nick's one of my favorite games, actually... except I've been playing the really old, DOS version for around 7 years now... hehe... anyway, I'm glad you actually laughed! I've read a load of good humor fics out there and the tiny bit of humor I've placed in here just doesn't seem to amount to that much. So it's a huge relief that you found it funny! And yes, I think she IS mentally deranged! ^_^ Hehe, thanks a bunch!

**Andunfeniel: **Oh, thanks! I really hope I didn't... thanks a load for the reassurance. I'll keep on writing, but I'm not sure if I can promise quick updates. =/ Anyway, thanks a load again! ^__^

**reader: **Hehe, thanks! ^_^ I wish I could smart mouth a load of people that way, but I'm quite the contrary. =P Anyway, thanks! And I'll try keeping some of James' lines in mind for everyday insults. ^_~

**citrus scented: **Thank you! You've been a very encouraging reviewer, and I'm really grateful for that. Thanks a thousand galleons for all those compliments, and I'm really glad you appreciated what I've been writing. I'm also happy you liked that line on the snitch.. hehe ^_^ I used Mundungus because I thought using Arabella might sound too clichéd or something... and I think she's supposed to be older than them. ^_^ Oh, and thanks for the correction! I overlooked the word 'mom' and got carried away...anyway, I've fixed it now. ^_^ Thanks a whole bunch again!!

**Angelxd14: **Thanks a whole load! *bows* It's an honor to have it placed there! That was very flattering! Thanks! ^__^

**phoenixdreams: **I'm happy you found it original! ^_^ And yes, I love Mrs. Evans too, even though she acts mentally ill throughout the story. ^_^ Hehe, thanks! And hopefully the plot will materialize soon. ^_^

**Stefanorkle: **Hehe... I would too! Thanks! ^_~

**KirbeeDesirae: **Hehe! Thanks! It's great you found the humiliation great! ^_^ Oh, they're in fifth year by the way. ^_^ Just to make the hormones a bit realistic. And I can relate to it more that way, being the same age. Thanks again! ^_~

**K. Ashley (kas316@msn.com): **Yup, you read my mind! And I completely agree on this one... it really was more tedious for some reason. I guess I just didn't get the feel of it when I was writing. Thanks for the actual constructive criticism. These suggestions can really help with the story. ^_^ And I'll try deepening the relationship between Lily and the Marauders too. Thanks so much! ^_^

**Lucy in the sky with DIAMONDS: **Nice nick! ^_~ I didn't model Lily on the Weasleys, exactly, but now that you've mentioned it, it does seem that way. ^_^ But a part of her character was based on San Cai, a character on a TV Show called Meteor Garden. ^_^ I'll also try reading your story soon, before our classes begin. ^_^ Thanks!

**Cecilia Orechio: **Thanks! ^_^ The reason behind James' bullying exterior will be explained in one of the later chapters, probably all the way into December of their schoolyear. ^_^ But you're also right about James having something else for Lily, except he has no idea about it yet. The closest he knows about it is that he just enjoys seeing Lily angry or irritated, and no more. ^_^ And regarding the guesses, we'll find out in the later chapters as well. ^_^ I'll try e-mailing you in my free time, too. I e-mailed you last April but I'm not sure if you've received it. Anyway, thanks a lot! ^__~

**Lacey Evans: **Thank you! ^_^ That was really reassuring...and thanks for the new word (if it doesn't already exist ^_^)! I hope you're doing well with your fic, too! ^_^ I've recently re-read the first part as well, and I'll really try my best to review it again sometime soon. It's just that there's been so much to do recently especially since school's starting and I've just recovered from my first case of chickenpox. Hehe...thanks a whole lot! ^_^

**DarkAngel (Candynss4582@aol.com): **I'm really glad you did! ^_^ I'll try writing as quickly as possible! Thanks!

That's it for now. Thanks to all of you! The encouragements and suggestions were really helpful. Thanks for taking your time to give a closer look at the story! ^_~ Please don't forget to review for this chapter! ^_^ Thanks!


	4. A Price to Pay

**Disclaimer:** I don't have my name on Harry Potter or any part of the wizarding world. ^_^ I'm just a mere muggle trying to create an alternative world for this brainchild, which is owned by none other than Joanne Kathleen Rowling. :^) And I don't own _Meteor Garden_, either, from which some of the characters' personalities are based. 

**Author's notes: **This fanfic was inspired by the television series _Meteor Garden_, and the animated film _Spirited Away_. ^_^. 

**Seven Serpents**

_Chapter Four: A Price to Pay _

--- 

"See? _See?_ I _told_ you guys there was something wrong with Peter!" Mundungus exclaimed after the Sorting had ended.

Lily pierced a piece of chopped squid with her fork and held it midway to her mouth. "Okay, Gus, you were right already. But don't be so caught up about it; he probably just forgot to eat breakfast or has a very weak immune system. Nothing serious." 

And she was telling it as it was. Just seconds after Peter had fainted, he had fluttered his eyes back open and reassured Professor McGonagall that he was okay. He just missed a few hours of sleep, he had said, and accidentally drowsed off on the table. As odd though as it was, he looked perfectly fine, and so nobody else but the school nurse had bothered to do anything else. After a quick, but frantic check-up from Madame Pomfrey, he had gone back just in time for the start-of-the-term banquet.

"Yeah, right, nothing serious except for his appetite," Edith remarked, scrolling her eyes back over to the where the Marauders sat. "Can you see how much food he's taking in per second? It's like he hasn't bloody eaten in weeks!"

"Not that it wouldn't be good for him not to do so," Mundungus commented, noticing how much Peter had horizontally grown over the summer. Truth be told, Mundungus, who was already slightly on the chubby side, looked quite slim standing next to Peter. "He's like a storage room of carbohydrates." 

Edith snickered. 

"You guys, that is just downright mean," Lily reprimanded lightly, although she herself was clearly stifling a grin. 

Edith shook her head. "Stop being such a goody-goody, Lils. I know you're just dying to insult him as well."

"I am _not _a goody-goody!"

"Yes you are," Mundungus piped in. "You're like Little Mary Sunshine in a Field of Daisies. Or Mary-Sue. Or Mary Had A Little Lamb Its Fleece Was---"

"Oh, shut up," said Lily. "I'm just a firm believer in karma, alright?"

"You know what really intrigues me?" a little voice piped up amidst the chatter. Looking to her left, Lily saw that it had been the tiny second-year sitting beside Peter. At first she had thought she was trying to join in on their conversation, but then her eyes widened to see her head directed towards the Marauders.

Edith almost choked on her Yorkshire pudding. "Really, does that kid even know who she's trying to talk to? The Marauders are going to kill her!" she whispered quite frantically. "Oh, gross... I can already imagine the possibilities of her death..."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, it's not like they're evil overlords or anything! She's the first student I've seen to talk to the four of them so casually---"

"You mean besides _you_," Mundungus inserted quickly, in the same tone as Edith. "It's really a wonder that they haven't done anything life-threatening to you yet... except of course during that time in our third year--"

"Don't start, Mundungus."

The twelve-year-old girl didn't seem to have noticed the glares she was receiving from the four boys. "I just find it so odd how your friend fainted so abruptly. He's just too... I don't know, _oversized_ for that. You know, he's majorly obese and with all that food stored in his body, it looks so weird how he could have been knocked out so quic---"

Before she knew it, James had grabbed the tiny girl's neck with a single hand, and pressed his face so closely to hers that the girl's eyes widened in fear. There were frightened gasps coming from around the table, and almost everyone had their eyes stuck to the scene. Even Peter had a look of fear in his eyes; Remus had a very mildly surprised and disapproving look on his face as Sirius tried to snatch the girl away from him.

"Take those nasty little words back into your bloody pothole," James muttered in a threatening whisper.

"Potter! Let go of her!" Lily cried out, standing up to force James' hands off the girl's neck. The girl was turning a nasty, pale-ish blue, and was on the very verge of tears. "You're hurting the girl!"

But James merely slapped a free hand to Lily's face. "I said," he repeated, eyes narrowed dangerously at the girl, "take it all _back_."

"Professor!" Lily screamed, getting the attention of Professor McGonagall at once. Peering over from the staff table, she sensed trouble brewing and walked off to the Gryffindor table at a quickened pace.

Seeing the Deputy Headmistress abruptly making her way towards them, James dropped the girl immediately back to her seat and found enough time to shoot Lily a very incensed glare. The girl held back her tears as she belted out a single choke, stifling the other coughing chokes that dared to follow as Professor McGonagall reached their place. She didn't dare anger James by furthering the evidence from the riot he had caused.

"_What_ is the matter here?" she asked, looking particularly at the Marauders. Everyone seemed to have lost their voices as many of the students looked back down on their food.

Lily was about to speak when Sirius, who was still standing up, threw a hand over Lily's mouth behind McGonagall's back. "We were just having an arm-wrestling session, Professor," he said with a straight face. His black, currently serious eyes and expressionless mouth seemed realistic enough to be believable.

McGonagall studied him for a while, and tried to study the faces of the other students surrounding them. She paused, causing a rather heart-stopping tension within the Gryffindor area, until she finally pursed her lips into a tight line and came to her decision. "Rather cynical, Mr. Black. But if I hear any more about the four of you, you can be sure that the consequences won't be light." 

With a last skeptical look at Sirius, Professor McGonagall broke the tension by walking away. The noisy chatter resumed with several murmurs until a voice spoke up just before McGonagall reached the staff table.

"Professor McGonagall!" Lily shouted, catching the attention of several students once more.

McGonagall turned around abruptly to face her. "What _is_ it, Miss Evans?"

Lily took in a breath. "Pott-- J-- James Potter just tried to-- to choke a girl," she said quietly, not being able to believe her own self for saying it outright. 

Several people gasped. Professor Dumbledore stopped halfway through a light conversation with the DADA teacher, Professor Ogden, before the usual twinkle in his eyes went out as his attention went back to the Gryffindor table. 

For a few fleeting seconds, Lily felt quite scared, more of what the Marauders could to her than the teachers' reactions. She knew how far James could go when he was angry, even though she had noticed an extremely slight difference in his temper ever since she became the first person to stand up to him in their first year. But she couldn't just leave things unsaid that way! The girl could have died if James had been allowed to proceed with it!

McGonagall stopped with slightly abashed eyes as she looked back at the group of intelligent, but trouble-making boys. "Is this true?"

"It is! It really is! It's _this_ little girl!" Mundungus chirped out, pointing shortly at the nearly-choked girl beside him before hiding his face behind Lily.

The line between McGonagall's eyebrows deepened. "Well, _honestly_, Potter, I thought you had more of that badge in you," said McGonagall, referring to the prefect badge on his chest. "In my office, please. Now."

---

The day that followed seemed to last forever for Lily. From the moment she had waken up, the tension of what she had done against James last night constricted tightly inside her. Although she was practically the only one who had managed to stand up to James Potter and his friends for more than four years running without getting cursed too badly, the fear of being hexed or physically distorted by the Marauders still remained. 

This tension seemed to have spread across the school; Lily had waken up to Edith's poorly-hidden panicking as she showed Lily a pile of tiny papers with notes of completely uncomforting taunts and predictions of how the Marauders were going to kill Lily, written by some Slytherins, as well as notes of good luck from the other houses. Everyone knew the Marauders and the heart-stopping tempers that came along with them, especially with James. The fact that they could curse or beat up anybody when they thought it needed was simply trivial. Even Slytherins feared them almost as much as they hated them.

"Erm, maybe... maybe James hadn't gotten punished at all," Edith said, trying to remove the hint of uncertainty in her voice during breakfast. Fortunately, the Marauders weren't there yet. Lily wanted to avoid them at all costs that day. "Who knows? Perhaps he's changed his mind on getting back at you."

"Morning, people," Mundungus greeted, stretching his arms as he sat down at the table. "Actually, Edith, James _was_ punished. Turns out that he got a week-long detention, lost Gryffindor forty points and was suspended from his Prefect duties for twenty days. Serves him right, doesn't it?"

"You're not helping!" Edith whispered through clenched teeth, elbowing him in the ribs.

Mundungus looked at her oddly. "What? It's true! I overheard the Marauders talking about it and all last night... and I think they mentioned something about 'giving the redhead a good scare' or something. I think they were talking about you, Lils."

Edith snorted. "No duh, Gus."

"Oh, _that's_ wonderful," Lily grumbled, swirling her fork on her plate of bacon and scrambled eggs. "Now help me make my last will and testament and help me find a priest to get me through the last sacrament."

"Come on, Lils, don't be such a pessimist," said Edith, finally giving up on trying to cheer her up with improbable guesses. "We'll be there to support you all the way, alright?"

"Hey Evans," a voice from the Slytherin table called out mockingly. "Feeling brave today? Hope you find somebody rich enough to pay for your funeral! Haha!"

"That mouth clearly isn't one to be used for a girl, Zabini," another Slytherin-hailing voice said. If Lily hadn't been too downtrodden from anticipating her possible death, she would have been surprised to see that it was Severus Snape that defended her. "Good luck, Lily Evans."

Edith tried not to laugh. Mundungus, on the other hand, looked completely surprised. "You know what, Lily? I think the hook-nosed bogey actually likes you! What a stupid git! Imagine, even thinking of liking someone from the Gryffindor side? Nasty little flirt of a blighter!"

"Ugh, I'm going to die.. I'm going to die..." Lily muttered to herself, ignoring Snape as she continued to feel restricted to her own worried thoughts. 

"Good thing you know that, Evans," an uninvited voice said from behind her.

But Lily seemed to absorbed in her thoughts to listen to anyone. "Oh, I sure do, alright." Her eyes rested on Mundungus and Edith, who were now looking uncertain and nervous. "What?" Lily asked, seeing their oddly widened eyes looking past her.

Lily turned around, only to see one of the last people she would want to. "Oh! Sheesh, Sirius! What are _you_ doing here?" she demanded, unable to avoid feeling nervous at the same time.

Sirius smirked. "Or, would you like to change it to, 'What are _we_ doing here'?" He paved out of view to reveal two other Marauders walking just behind him towards their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. Only Peter and James were here this time, but it didn't really come as a surprise. Remus, aside from being an introvert towards taking pranks seriously, made it a point to sleep at least ten hours each day.

Unable to tear her eyes away from the three of them, Lily caught James' eyes in a flash. She tried to look away from the smirk on James' face, but before she could even do so, James had grabbed her by the scruff of her tee shirt and lifted her up slowly.

"Evans," he said, still lifting her up in the same way until he found a wall to push Lily into. "Brave little _Evans._"

Mundungus stood up abruptly. "G-get your hands off her!" And then he sank back down into his seat seeing Sirius sneer at him.

"Get your nasty hands off my clothes, Potter," Lily spat, hoping her heart didn't beat too loudly for him to hear. The wall behind her was rather rough, and she could actually feel the unequal layers of cement pushing into her back. 

James sneered at her. "I could tear you apart right now without even using any magic, Evans. I could tear you apart with my bare hands. But you know what? Before I do so, I'd like to drown you in humiliation first. Let's just hope you're a good swimmer."

Smirking at her one last time, James dropped Lily onto the ground, and went off to the dormitory with his friends.

"Lily! Oh, God, Lily, are you okay?" Edith cried, rushing towards her friend immediately. "I'm sorry that James had to be such a bas--"

"We'll get him, Lils, don't worry," Mundungus added. "We'll get him before he can even cast a hex on you!"

Edith suddenly buried her face in her hands and shook her head. "Oh no," she mumbled. "Too late, Gus. Look up." 

Simultaneously, Lily and Mundungus rolled their eyes towards the sky, and sure enough, they found a red, blinking arrow floating right above Lily's head, pointed in the direction of her hair. But that wasn't enough. Just above the other end of the arrow was an identical, blinking, bright red light, except this time, it was a word: _Hermaphrodite._

Snickers erupted from the different tables, regardless of which house they belonged to. Lily felt herself blush in humiliation as she shook her head in hopes of taking the sign away from above her. But it didn't work.

"Erm, what's a Hermaphrodite?" Mundungus asked innocently, in a way that completely annoyed Edith. 

Edith heaved a disgruntled sigh. "Don't ask."

Later that day, after a load of classes, Lily hung her head helplessly from her neck. She was getting very tired of this whole humiliation thing even though she had, so far, only gone through three pranks: 

First, there had been the Hermaphrodite sign, which Professor Flitwick had been glad to remove before anyone else in the school could see it. 

Next, they had conducted a Burping Charm on Lily, which got her a detention for burping instead of speaking to their completely biased and unfair Potions Master, Professor Carrasco. The Marauders had her burping until she found a counter charm to take it off again after an hour.

The last prank had been simple and so devoid of magic, it ran into Lily with an unexpected crash. Those tactless boys had posted an announcement in the Great Hall, containing a single sentence written so plainly in black ink:_ Lily Evans to Undergo Abortion_. It had caused quite a riot with some teachers, especially since Lily was known to be one of their model students. Unfortunately for Lily, it took her several hours to finally convince everyone how completely untrue the statement had been.

Lily thought it would be the last trick of the day; but that was only before she walked into the Quidditch Field prior to dinner.

Edith Johnson, who was part of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team as one of its beaters, had Quidditch practice that night. Lily had gone with her to watch her play, even though it meant having to endure the unnerving smirks and sneers of James Potter, who was also unfortunately playing in the team as a Chaser.

"Now, listen, Lils," Edith had told her earlier that afternoon. "Don't look at James at all costs. If he ever tries to wink at you or tries to do something to irritate you, just ignore him. He hopefully won't do any funny stuff to you under Allan's nose."

Allan Abbott, a tall, well-framed 6th year with golden-brown hair, was the team's seeker and Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. Although he was completely serious about his Quidditch matches, he took care of his players well and would always be there to clear up any squabbles between the players. It was fortunate for him, however, that he hadn't come across James' temper yet in his years of knowing him.

Lily sat at the bleachers quietly, watching as her house's Quidditch team gathered up to listen to Allan give out team strategies. Eventually, some action began taking place as they held a mock Quidditch match for the day's practice. 

_Hmm... Things seem peaceful enough_, Lily thought, glad to have a piece of her time untainted by another Marauder prank. _It looks as though James Potter has something else to keep his hands on, for once._

Lily grinned, feeling finally at ease with her surroundings knowing that she wouldn't have to endure another fit of humiliation for the next hour. It was only until she saw someone sleeping just a few feet from her that the ease began to vanish. The boy to her left was lying so peacefully on the same bleacher that he seemed almost...lifeless. Dead.

"Er, excuse me?" Lily called, moving toward the sleeping boy and ignoring the sound of several clicks from the sky, which might have come from the constant swooping of brooms from her Quidditch-playing housemates. "Excuse me, why are you sleeping he--- _Oh my God_!" 

Lily's heart made a dangerous somersault inside her chest. Her breathing turned heavy as she recognized the supposedly sleeping boy. "_Gus!_"

It was Mundungus Fletcher, and he was lying motionless on the bleachers, blood trickling down the side of his face.

---

**A/N: Ooh... cliffhanger! Whee... ^_^ And there's a lot more to come, so don't forget to check by from time to time! For the _future_ chapters (not necessarily the next one), expect a sort of love triangle (or even square!), more Severus Snape, a bit of confusion, more card victims and several hurdles in Lily and James upcoming relationship. ^_^ Okay, so that may have sounded a bit obvious but I'm working on the plot alright? ^_^ Thanks to all those who read and reviewed, particularly to:**

**Lacey Evans **(Thanks! It's a huge relief to know that. ^_^)**, Sabriel4 **(I'm really glad you liked the song. :) Thanks for the nice remarks on the foreshadowing and humor! That was very observant of you. ^_~ I'm glad it had a better flow than the last. ^_^ Thanks!), **Andufeniel() **(Hehe... thanks!), **smartikiss **(Thank you!)**, fae **(Hey, thanks a bunch! ^_^ I'm glad it made you laugh that much! Hehe... James will most likely be the last victim, but I can't tell which one yet. ^_^ Thanks so much!)**, citrus scented **(Are you one of my favorite reviewers or what?? Hehe... ^_~ I'm really happy it did, and I hope the future chapters will be worthy enough to cheer you up again. Glad the you liked the song as well! ^_^ Oh, and thanks for the get-well review, I think your review helped me recover! And thrice? Wow... good thing you're completely immune now, at least! Hehe... thanks so much again!! ^_^)**, DaRkAnGel143 **(Hey, Ramona! Thanks a load for reviewing! Glad you liked the name... hehe... ^_^ Thanks! ^_^)**, K. Ashley **(Thank you! I'm completely glad you are, too! ^_^ And thanks for the great suggestions... don't worry, I'll really try to take each one of them seriously, as I do with my reviews. ^_^ Thanks again!)**, Lucy in the sky with DIAMONDS **(Thanks! I'm happy you're loving it... ^_^ I already reviewed your story again, by the way, and it was great. ^_^ Thanks!)**, hEaRtBrEakEr() **(Hey! I'm Filipino... it's also really famous here. ^_^ Thanks for the review!)**, leftwriter **(Thank you! ^_^ Those simple adjectives actually made me smile...hehe...thanks again! ^_^)**, Ice Bear **(Hehe! Oh, cute nickname by the way! Thanks! ^_^)**, Angelxd14 **(Aw, thanks ;) You deserved one for cheering me up with your review. ^_^ Thanks for the wonderful comments... and I'm really glad you're enjoying the story. Thanks a whole lot again! ^_^)**, ashley() **(Hehe...I'm really glad you do! Thanks!)**, ..::SelMa-MeCkAnZiE::.. **(Hey! Glad to see you know a bit of Filipino. ^_^ It's supposedly "Kumusta ka?" meaning "How are you?" and "Mabuti naman" is the equivalent of "I'm fine". ^_^ I'd like a picture of Cho, could you e-mail it to me? It's on my bio. ^_^ Thanks!)**, Princess Jasmine **(Thanks! ^_^ I will, so please keep on reading! Thanks so much for the review! ^_^)

**Comments and Suggestions? Don't forget to leave a review! **  



	5. A Stimulus

**Disclaimer:** I don't have my name on Harry Potter or any part of the wizarding world. ^_^ I'm just a mere muggle trying to create an alternative world for this brainchild, which is owned by none other than Joanne Kathleen Rowling. :^) And I don't own _Meteor Garden_, either, from which some of the characters' personalities are based. 

**Author's notes: **This fanfic was inspired by the television series _Meteor Garden_, and the animated film _Spirited Away_. ^_^. 

And I'm extremely sorry for the very late update! I haven't found much time to write since school started this June. And who could think of writing fanfics during the release of Book 5? :) Speaking of which, wasn't it excellent? I was a bit disappointed with how the plot seemed to rush by, and with the lack of cheer in the book, but it really paved way for the dark atmosphere and a blizzard of new questions... can't wait for the sixth installment. :-) And I hate Umbridge, but she makes a really brilliant villain. By the way, I guess I hadn't gotten Mundungus Fletcher's personality properly as compared to how Rowling portrayed him in Book 5. Also, James' eyes here are blue-gray and not hazel, while Mundungus' physical traits aren't very accurate either. Take note as well that James has been assigned as prefect instead of Lily, so this will definitely have to be AU. Bear with me people, okay? :-)

To criticize my own story, I'll have to admit I hadn't developed the characters that well... Also, the flow of the story may be stiff or not that smooth, but I'm really trying to improve the chapters as I progress throughout the story so keep the comments posted as well. :-) I'm trying to improve in these aspects and I'd really appreciate constructive criticism (as long as it's stated well and balanced and not to bash the person) and I hope you can find the time to do so. :) 

Here's Chapter 5...

**Seven Serpents**

_Chapter Five: A Stimulus_

--- 

"Oh my God! Gus!" Lily repeated, running over to her best friend's side and trying to nudge him awake. She nervously felt for his pulse round the wrist, and soon realized that her fingers had trembled too much for her to find anything out. She quickly lowered her ear towards Mundungus' chest and tried to listen for something-- anything-- that would give her assurance of her friend's subsistence. But the absence of heartbeats only made her wish she was deaf.

"Somebody help!" she cried frantically as she absentmindedly searched the sky for people, all of whom were still gliding on their broomsticks. "Somebody call Madame Pomfrey! Please!!"

Feeling her chest constrict painfully amidst the heavy pounding of her heart, Lily spotted the big floating dot that was Edith hovering meters away on her Comet Two-Sixty. She tried to scream once more, to tell her that Mundungus was in trouble... that he needed help immediately... and that he was almost pleading for his life...

"_Edith_! Come down! He's _injured!_" 

Even from afar, Edith's eyes could be seen widening. Lily tried to scream at her again but released a heavy gasp instead; before she could say anything else, she felt tears prick her eyes inconsiderately before they rolled down her cheeks. Edith turned into a fuzzy blur now, but Lily stubbornly tried to break through her tears to get anyone else's attention.

"SOMEONE HELP!!!" Lily yelled, voice breaking at the climax of her shouts as they paved way for uncontrolled tears. She grasped onto her wand instinctively, and searched her mind for any spell or charm that could reverse the situation or heal Mundungus' concussion, let alone wipe the blood of the side of his face, but nothing came. For a split second, she actually thought of using "Accio, Madame Pomfrey" to do the trick, but just as soon realized how ineffective and silly it sounded. She felt more helpless than ever and wanted so badly for her best friend to just get up suddenly and scream, "Gotcha!", or even suddenly wake up and find Dumbledore standing behind him saying, "Not to worry, Miss Evans, he'll be alright."

Gus would have to wake up soon enough, or so Lily reassured herself, since he just couldn't die like that... nobody could get into accidents out of nowhere after all! And besides, if he really did get injured, Madame Pomfrey would be able to heal him, wouldn't she? This wasn't like in the Muggle world, where people had to die because of physical injuries and wherein everything was 'too late'... the wizarding world had ways to _save_ people...

Lily tried to lift him up on her shoulders carefully, and slipped a nasty curse from her mouth as she dropped him back on the bleacher, letting his head hit the marble with a rather nasty _thud_. Why wasn't anyone coming? Couldn't they just drop their stupid brooms for one bloody moment and help her lift the boy up?

After what seemed like eons, Lily saw two dots on broomsticks finally zoom into view towards her, one landing promptly on the same row as she was, the other one struggling to get nearer with what looked like frantic arm movements in the distance.

Lily didn't even seem to care that it was James that had landed just two feet away from Mundungus on the same row, or that, for some reason, he couldn't look directly at either the body or Lily. 

"H-he's hurt!" Lily struggled to say between tears. "He needs medical attention! Where on e-earth is Madame P-Pomfrey? Did y-you call h-her? Does she know? W-Will you even look? _Look!_ He needs help n-now!"

"She's on her way," James began blankly, eyes not meeting Mundungus' body at all. 

Was that-- fear-- in his eyes? Was he scared of seeing unconscious bodies like this? Or near-dead bodies?

"God, p-please," Lily whispered in between sobs, "she's coming, G-Gus, you'll be okay...hang on, _please_..."

But her sobs were drowned out by audible shouts from in front of her. Looking up, she saw the other dot which turned out to be Edith zooming her way into view, panting a little as she waved a hand in front of her face. 

"Li--Lily, don't---"

"That's-- that's not Mundungus," panted another voice from Lily's right.

Lily looked towards the source and saw Remus with his head bent slightly down, hands rested on his knees from running to the bleachers where Lily sat. Raising his head up, Remus very briefly looked at Lily with stern, disappointed eyes and then took a good look at the lifeless Mundungus behind her.

Upon the swiftest bit of eye contact from the boy, Mundungus' body vanished in a puff of smoke, and was replaced just as quickly by a whitish, floating orb that glowed in the darkening sky. Remus took his wand out quickly and uttered, "Riddikulus!", to which the orb responded by vanishing with a loud 'Pop!' into nothingness. 

A nasty, wide smile broke into James' mischievous face, and he began to laugh. And it would be completely untrue to say it hadn't made the situation worse when a laughing Sirius and Peter came walking down from the bleachers above, a shiny, silky material folded in the former's arms. The latter had a wizard's camera hanging from his pudgy neck.

"I knew you'd be doing something like this again," Remus muttered, towards James in particular. "It's a boggart, Lily. It's not real."

Lily felt a huge lurch among her insides. She didn't know whether she'd been more relieved or furious in her entire life.

"So that's why!" Edith exclaimed, eyebrows slightly furrowed. "I knew from the start it was a fake! Bloody hell, Potter, that was deliberate, you bast--"

But before anyone could say anything else, Lily stood up angrily, pulled her arm back, and punched James squarely on the jaw. "_Bastard!_" she cried, tears still streaming down her cheeks, before she gave him another strong punch in the stomach and ran off to the castle grounds in fury.

She didn't even take a single backwards glance to see James staring after her, rendered completely speechless as his mouth hung open in silence. Nobody had ever dared to hit a Potter like that before.

+_+_+_+

The way to the girls' dormitory seemed to be a very long one that evening. Lily's vision seemed to be unfocused, and the tears that were still in her eyes didn't make things any better. She still couldn't swallow the fact that James Potter had actually done such a prank to her, and humiliated her at the same time. It was just unnerving, and it made Lily even angrier seeing him just laugh at her like that. It was the most insensitive thing she's seen him do so far and the only thing that made her feel slightly satisfied at that moment was the knowledge that she had been able to punch him twice, although she knew he deserved something more on the lines of the Avada Kedavra curse.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked as Lily reached the portrait hole.

Lily tried to subtly wipe the left-over tears the edged around her eyes and down her cheeks. "_Horklump frump_."

The Fat Lady smiled at her with a rather kind face, as though to quietly question her tears, and opened the portrait hole. Stepping into the Gryffindor common room, Lily caught sight of the familiar dirty blond hair that greeted her almost everyday.

"Gus!" Lily cried, running to the fireplace to hug him. Mundungus paled up and then suddenly blushed furiously, awkwardly freezing on the spot.

"Er, hi Lils," he greeted unsurely, surprised with the unexpected gesture. "Is this---erm-- a new best friend thing?"

+_+_+_+

Severus Snape sighed as he leaned himself on his dormitory's bathroom wall after dinner. He stared into the flask he held in his hand, straight unto the reflection tainted sapphire by the liquid that sponsored it, and combed his greasy, chin-length hair with a free hand. That grease was just infuriating.

"You'll get there, Severus," he assured himself as he felt the greasy black strands slide across his fingers. On impulse, he fingered the bottle containing the altering potion he had also concocted himself, which he would have to take if anything went wrong with the potion he made. "Alright, bottoms up."

Slowly, he raised the half-filled flask to the tip of his oversized, hook-shaped nose, and drank in as much of the liquid as he could drink in one gulp. He felt an odd tingle slither up from his scalp and up to the tips of his licorice-colored hair, making him feel like he had just gone through a strong, driving wind. Carefully, with a seemingly nervous muscle twitching in his left brow, he walked up to finally face the mirror above the brilliant jade green sink and looked properly at his reflection.

His black eyes told him that he was still staring at the same pale, sallow face he'd been disliking for fifteen years, but as his eyes scrolled upwards, his heart skipped a beat, and his nostrils took in sniffles of a deceased animal's rotting body. 

Frankly, it would be an understatement to say that Severus had failed in de-greasing his hair, because his once slimy hair had turned dry, alright--- but it was now so completely dry and smelly that he at first thought he had a dying skunk sprawled on his head. 

"Argh!" he gasped, tugging at his new, nest-dry and skunk-scented hair. He kicked a foot in impatience and sent a shoe flying across the bathroom floor. "This'll never do! Ruddy potion!"

He sank down onto the floor hopelessly and banged his head carelessly and repeatedly onto his knees like a disgruntled house-elf. How could he possibly get Lily's attention now that he looked like a sanctuary for dead baby skunks? 

And unenthusiastically, he took out the counter potion he had twiddled with in his pocket and began drinking it all up. Grease instantly returned up to the tips of his hair, and some of the stench wafted away.

"Why don't you just cut it short, boy?" asked his reflection on the light jade floor tiles. 

Severus raised an eyebrow rather defensively, and coldly answered his reflection. "It emphasizes my nose," he quipped stiffly, as though he would rather not talk about it. 

He couldn't see why he had to be so encased in his own self most of the time. Sure, he had sallow skin, black greasy hair and an abnormally overlarge nose, but nobody was perfect, right? And he was a whiz at his Potions class, so why didn't anyone even seem to acknowledge that? And why couldn't Lily Evans just notice him?

_Well, there are many reasons, _Severus thought unwillingly, but he couldn't blame himself. The thought of her creamy complexion and slightly wavy auburn hair always brought him hesitant heartbeats, and her bright green eyes always made the hair on his neck prickle gingerly. He didn't know why it happened so often, especially since she wasn't even all that beautiful. She was short, for one matter, or at least shorter than the average girls in their school, and she didn't exude that amount of elegance and beauty whenever she passed by. She was just---plain old Lily, and for an unexplainable reason it seemed like that mere fact made her more beautiful than anyone else in Severus' eyes.

_Cease dreaming, Severus, _he told himself in his thoughts, _and get a grip on yourself. Evans is and will always be a dream, and nothing more. You will never get any closer to her than a meter apart in class, nor will you be able to interact with her or even get to address her future child as yours. You probably won't even be able to get a mere glimpse of her future child, or even get the chance to address the blessed boy or girl by name. You won't even be able to---_

His eyes suddenly landed on the shoe that he had kicked off just seconds ago. It was lying motionless on its side, revealing an odd-looking card stuck to its leather sole. 

Severus immediately got up and walked over to the black leather shoe to pick it back up. After getting a brief glimpse of a tree illustrated on the card, he carefully detached it and held it to his hooked nose.

"_Serpens Illecebra..." _he started to read, almost soundlessly, unaware of what he was about to get himself into.

+_+_+_+

James dropped himself onto his four-poster bed after the night's events, feeling extremely odd. His stomach churned uneasily while his chest was doing uncomfortable hurdle jumps, making him feel like he had just swallowed something unusually hyperactive. He couldn't even concentrate on eating dinner that evening, even though he had opted to eat alone in the common room, like in those days where he had to concentrate on unfinished homework. For some reason, his brain couldn't stop rambling on about the scenes that had just occurred just about two hours ago-- Evans' shouting, Evans' tearful eyes, the boggart, Evans' anger, Evans' voice, Evans' face, Evans' reddening cheeks, and the double punch Evans had given him----_ especially_ the double punch Evans had given him. 

_Bloody witch, _James swore privately, not quite feeling the anger of his own thoughts for some reason. _She's such a... an.. a......er...... damn her!_

Never had James felt _angrier_ at a girl in his life. No one had ever used physical violence on him like that before, and it made his chest swell up with sheer fury. He just wanted to do something very-- _bad_-- to the ruddy girl at the moment, to tear her stupid red hair apart, to rip her annoyingly bright green eyes into something unidentifiable... 

"Oy, James! You weren't at dinner today! Your insides still pushed in a dent?"

"Shut it, Black," James snapped, feeling angry enough to call his best friend by the latter's surname.

Sirius smirked. "Better start working on that bloody fist, now. That mudblood's a punching kangaroo!"

"I said, SHUT IT!"

"Tss... tad shirty now, aren't we?" Sirius commented, shaking his head theatrically.

James gave Sirius a very nasty glare at this point, jumping up violently from his bed and taking out his wand from a pocket. Sirius held a hand in front of his face, still looking as calm as ever, as he flashed a grin at his best friend before tossing a towel onto his own shoulder. "Hey, alright already, keep that temper down for Merlin's sake..." He summoned several garments from his trunk before walking on towards the door that led to their dormitory bathroom.

James placed the wand constrainedly back into his pocket, and plopped back onto his bed. After briefly hovering away from his impatience with Sirius, his thoughts drew back to tetchy old Evans again. Not even Sirius' consistent knocks on the bathroom door ("Snivellus! Get out of there! Your bowel movement's intoxicating!") could interrupt his infuriation at the annoyingly sensitive girl. Everything about Lily Evans seemed to annoy the hell out of him right now; he just hated that stupid face, those dirty little tears... that stupid little face when it was stained with dirty tears...

And before he knew it, he had fallen asleep, only to wake up the following morning with a rectangular object dropped onto his stomach. 

---

**A/N: I'm sorry if it came late or if it was too short! I really just can't find much time to write in or even visit fanfiction.net at the moment, as I'm in the process of adjusting to life as a junior in high school... especially since I have terrible study habits.. That's why I'm trying to budget my time right now to focus more on studying... not to mention all those extra-curricular activities! Our schooldays end at 4-5pm now on average, and it's eaten up a load of my time.**

**Anyway, I crammed this chapter in 2-3 days (with plugs of schoolwork) so I hope it didn't turn out as a waste of website space. Please don't forget to read and review... I'll try my best to write again soon as well! And I know (as my personal bit of criticism) that the character development isn't very good, so I'll try improving that on my next fic. Thanks to all those who reviewed for the previous chapter!**

**Merenwen Luinwel():** Thanks! The prediction was good, but it doesn't turn out that way as Lily finds out in this chapter. :-)

**Lucy in the sky with DIAMONDS:** I'll try explaining a bit of James' behavior during their Christmas break. Meteor Garden is basically a love story between two complete opposites, and it's a really good series. The pairing also came as unexpected to me at first, so it made the series more interesting. Thanks! ^_^

**alexa():** I'm sorry I made you wait! Anyway, I hope this chapter wasn't too disappointing! Thanks for reviewing!

**Anonymous():** Aw, thanks! ^_^ I'm sorry for not updating that soon though... thanks again! :-)

**Doneril: **I'm really glad you like it! As for what happened, here's chapter 5! Sorry it came late though! ^_^ Thanks! :-)

**citrus scented: **Hey citrus scented! Yup, I agree, he _is _mean, the bully! Hehe... but Malfoy still rules as the prince of darkness ;P I'm really happy you found the pranks that way! I was worrying they might stink since I know the Marauders are way better at doing pranks in J.K.'s world. ^_^ Really? Heehee... poor cat, though! ^_^ By the way, James will lighten up in a way once the romance blossoms... the love triangle (square) has already started, but I'll be expounding on that a little more in the next chapters. ^_^ And I'm glad you loved the chapter! Like Pringles? That's really nice and flattering...thanks so much! ^_^ You're welcome, too...and I love your long reviews! They cheer me up, too! Good luck as well on yours! Keep on writing, I'd like to read more of your fics too! :-) I just hope I can find the time to access this website soon again... thanks again! ^_~

**Angelxd14: **Oh, thanks! ^_^ I'm glad you were able to hate them too :-), I've been canning in the fact that they've been sounding too one-dimensional to me. The feelings start in this chapter, which begins the whole bit of romance. ^_^ I'm happy you like Lily's best friends and the suspense... thanks so much! ^_^

**Nnifer(): **Thanks a lot! :-) By the way, Gus'll be okay as seen in this chapter. :-)

**lavon(): **Glad you do... thanks! :-)

**Knutte(): **Thanks! Thanks for the advice too... and I'll keep on writing in spite of the changes. :-) Thank you! ^_^ Nice nick!

**j-chan:** Hey, thanks so much! ^_^ He's already beginning to see the light in this chapter...^_^ I'm planning to write this until the end of their fifth year only, but I'd like to try writing about that if I had the time. Thanks again! :-)

**CarmenSandiego(): **You're right about that too! ^_^ Hehe, you're free to do so, but only to this fic's James, okay? James Potter in JK's world is too precious to have his eyes scratched out! Hehe... thanks! :-)

**Cecilia Orechio:** Yup, it is! I'd be furious if anyone did that to me... but Gus isn't dead, as shown in this chapter. ^_^ I'm not sure if I livened things up here, but I hope it wasn't a disappointment either. Thanks so much for the review! :-) 

**fanatic13: **Thanks! ^_^ It's okay, I'm just happy you even bothered to read this.. ^_^ hehe...thanks again! ^_^

**stringer(): **Yikes... sorry about that.. I'm still trying to find time to write right now so I'm sorry for the late updates! Anyway thanks for the review! ^_^

**Tessandra:** I'm really glad you do! :-) I've been wanting to read more L/J fics since book 5 came out too except there's been so much to do that I haven't even found time to re-read book 5 again! But it was good, wasn't it? The only problem is it makes me feel bad about not being able to read a continuation until JK releases book 6.. :s Anyway, thanks a lot! :-)

**Sen_Chan(): **Wow, thanks! That was very flattering! ^_^ And you're a novelist? Neat...I'd like to read your works, too... I always get lots of inspiration from writers! ^_^ Nice wording... _hot bastard... _hehe.. ^_^ All your questions were answered in this chapter, hopefully...thanks a lot! ^_^

**Anon(): **Thanks.. :-) That was sweet...thanks so much! ^_^ 

**Kat: **Yeah, Umbridge bites! =P It's alright...thanks for taking time to review nonetheless! ^_^ I hope you get to read it soon!

**Sirius's Girl(): **Ooh... I like your nick! ^_~ Glad you found it lovely...thanks a load! :-)

**Anaid(): **I'm glad you did, and I'm sorry for the wait! Thanks so much for the nice comments! :-)

**ChickoftheDarkMoon:** I'm happy you liked it! And yup, I will as much as possible! Thanks! :-)  
  
  
  
  


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